The letter was a response to a six-page “mission letter” sent by Mr Juncker to Maroš Šefčovič, who is set to become the new EU transport policy chief replacing Siim Kallas. In the mission letter, which was published on the Commission website, Mr Juncker only mentioned safety in passing, and only in very vague terms. The topic was not mentioned at all in a separate mission letter to Elżbieta Bieńkowska who, as Industry and Internal Market Commissioner, will be in charge of vehicle safety regulations. It was also absent from a letter to Jyrki Katainen, vice-president for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness – who will have veto power over transport policy in the new Commission structure.

In its response, ETSC highlighted that transport accidents are still the number one non-health related cause of death in Europe and the number one killer of young people aged 15-29. ‘There is still a lot of work to do prevent 500 Europeans from dying every week on our roads,’ it concluded.

Mr Šefčovič’s appointment is subject to a hearing in the European Parliament on 30 September when members of the transport committee will get to grill the candidate for his suitability for the post.

Mr Šefčovič, from Slovakia, is currently the European Commissioner in charge of inter-institutional relations and administration.

Šefčovič’s home country Slovakia was this year’s winner of the ETSC Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Award having made the most progress in saving lives since an EU target to halve road deaths by 2020 was set four years ago.